Nissan's brand new 2013 Altima packs a powerful punch. Time will tell if it has the right stuff to dethrone the Toyota Camry as America's best-selling car, but I wouldn't bet against it.

Last year, Toyota sold 309,000 Camrys and Nissan sold 267,000 Altimas.

Often sedan redesigns are mostly hype, a bit of new sheet metal and a few upgrades in horsepower and standard equipment. The 2013 Altima, however, is a quantum leap in quality, refinement and styling.

Driving one of the first new Altimas to hit the ground at Hunt Nissan this week, a sleek black version with beige leather interior, I would have sworn somebody had slapped a Nissan tail badge on an Infiniti luxury sedan.

Hunt Nissan new car sales manager Danny McVay said word is out on the quality of the new Altima, and some customers are even ordering copies sight-unseen. Those early-adopters can exhale now. If first impressions count for anything, this is an exceptional car.

Some of the Altimas will be made up I-24 in Smyrna, Tenn., although our test car was assembled in Canton, Miss.

STYLING AND COMFORT

The 2013 Altima cuts a dramatic profile. Like the larger Nissan Maxima, the new Altima has athletic shoulders which frame the mid-section of the car from the hood to the trunk. The result is a muscular, planted look.

An aggressive, black-out grille ringed with chrome and bracketed by swept-back headlamps give the car a stern visage. The real visual drama though is from the rear, where the sedan's exaggerated mid-lines cue your brain to think "sports car."

Like all great designs, the Altima's virtues are not always line items on the sticker, though, but intangibles such as the silky action of the seat belts, the just-right front seat bolsters and the rearview mirror that perfectly reflects the geometry of the rear window.

The interior is an upscale blend of soft-touch plastics, faux wood accents and comfortable, perforated leather seats. While the previous generation Altima felt more like a rental fleet car, the new Altima's interior would be right at home inside BMW. Actually, it's quite comparable to the Chattanooga-made VW Passat, which, up to this point, I had rated the mid-size class leader in interior refinement.

Our test car was the four-cylinder version (2.5 liter, 182 horsepower), although a six-cylinder making 270 horsepower is also available. Our SL test car felt nimble and perfectly capable of passing and merging on the freeway. The robust exhaust note is a nice surprise.

While there are less expensive trim levels available, the Altima SL has a near-luxury quality that is well worth the money. Our test car stickered for $29,910, and compares favorably with top-trim Toyotas, Hondas and VWs.